When the Devil Comes to Church

Introduction

You’ve all seen it! It’s there on the side of I-65 just north of Prattville and it reads, “Go to church or the Devil will get you.” What do you do when the Devil is at church? - What you do is you return to simplicity, and you run the devil out of the church!

These Corinthians were sons and daughters to the Apostle Paul. He planted this church and he taught them the gospel, and he showed them an accurate way. Now, they have been invaded by men that he relates to the devil.

They’ve come in, and they’ve seduced this church away from the gospel of Jesus and are trying to revert them to a false gospel of works based salvation.

They’ve taken complete control. And when men are in control, then Jesus is disgraced in the church.

There are three principles that I want you to apply to your life and to the church so that we can ensure that when we come to Providence, the devil won’t get us because he’s outside and not inside!

I. A Simple Gospel

The gospel that we preach is not a complicated gospel, and it’s certainly not an incomplete gospel. It is a simple gospel that has been totally fulfilled by Jesus Christ. To add to that or to take away from that is the work of satan and not of God.

But something happens in the mind of church going people. The devil gets in good churches and he causes divisions. He tries to diminish the role and effectiveness of the people that love the church by raising people up that say they love the church but don’t do anything but oppress the people.

These are not people that you disagree with, but these are people that want to make the gospel something that it’s not.

They either want to have legalism, liberalism, or extremism in their churches!

but God has not called us to legalism, liberalism, or to extremism. God has called us to freedom in Jesus Christ.

John 8:36 NKJV

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

And so, we cannot attempt to make church and the gospel that we preach complicated. It is a very simple thing.

Jesus died for our sin. He was buried in the grave. He rose to give us new life.

Paul is concerned for this church. At one time, they were presented to Jesus Christ by Paul as a chaste bride. Now, they are playing footsies with the world and they are in serious danger of idolatry. They have gotten away from a simple gospel.

2 Corinthians 11:1–4 NKJV

Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

A. Reserved for The Lord Jesus (v.2)

Just as a bride is supposed to be reserved fro her husband, the church of Jesus Christ must be reserved for Him and Him alone.

Marriage is more than a ceremony. It is a covenant. When we enter into a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus, we enter into a covenant with Him.

Covenant means “binding obligation”.

When we are under a covenant (binding obligation), God has bound Himself to us and we are bound to Him.

When we read the Bible, we see covenant as a binding agreement initiated by God that establishes 1) relationship; 2) obligation; 3) secure promise.

Think of this in terms of marriage: There is an apparent relationship, inferred obligation, and there is supposed to be a secure promise.

Thus, marriage is a picture from God of relationship, obligation, and promise.

Paul says, “I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a virgin to Christ.”

In this context, the father of the daughter was responsible for presenting his daughter to her husband. It was patriarchal. We’ve lost this today. Many children are in rebellion to their parents and the dynamics have shifted.

This is what is taking place in the church. Paul is illustrating himself as their father. He is illustrating them as his virgin daughter. And he is illustrating his uprightness in presenting this daughter of his as a virgin to the Lord Jesus.

What does this mean?

1. Free from sin

This church was a church founded on freedom. Freedom from sin, from the law, and from idolatry. When they were formed, they were formed under the expectation that they were born-again.

2. Under God’s Authority

They were also formed under the authority of God’s minister (Paul) and under the authority of God’s word. When this church was birthed, they were birthed by the Word and they were nourished by the Word, and they were to act in submission and loyalty to the Word of God.

John 8:31–32 NKJV

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

We are people of truth. We are not reserved for legalism. We are not reserved for liberalism. We are not reserved for extremism. We are reserved for the Lord Jesus Christ and His truth.

When we get to the place where the Word of God is not our authority, then we cease to be that chaste virgin, but we become what the Bible calls a harlot.

When the nation of Israel went astray and began to worship things other than God, God called them idolators. He said that they were playing the harlot. They were unfaithful to God because they did not make Him their authority.

3. Chaste Unto Jesus

What they were experiencing were people that came in and seduced them like an adulterer would. They lured this church away from the simplicity found in Jesus Christ and tried to bind them up in another gospel.

The only way for us to be reserved for the Lord Jesus and faithful to Him is to be under the sound preaching and teaching of God’s word.

It is vitally important that we consider ourselves to be students of the Word of God and only to be in submission and under the teaching ministries of men who faithfully preach the word of God.

B. Purified by The Lord Jesus (v. 3)

Paul says their minds are being corrupted by satan and they are allowing him to pervert the simple gospel of Jesus.

When we entered into this marriage covenant with Jesus, we were reserved for Him.

Now, in the marriage relationship, oneness (sex), is purified.

Hebrews 13:4 NKJV

Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

Why?

Because we are to be pure unto the Lord in our hearts and in our doctrine, just as we are to be pure unto our spouses in both our hearts and in our minds.

When we allow sin and impurity into our hearts and minds, it turns into action, and the marriage covenant that we swore to forsaken.

This doesn’t mean there isn’t grace, forgiveness, and restoration, but it does mean that the relationship has been seriously marred.

In the same way, when we practice bad doctrine and allow false teaching to invade our hearts and minds, we violate the purity of our marriage with the Lord.

1. Security in Jesus

However, there is security in Jesus.

John 6:37 NKJV

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

This means that we have something called eternal security

Under the covenant of Jesus, we have a guarantee of salvation and the down payment is the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13–14 NKJV

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Why do we have this security?

Because, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we have been purified.

We receive this purification of the Holy Spirit through the power and authority of Jesus Christ.

John 14:26 NKJV

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

The Holy Spirit performs the purifying work of Jesus Christ in us.

This is the word regeneration.

The Gospel that we proclaim says that we are to be reserved for Christ, and that we are to be purified by Christ, not given over to the seduction of the devil.

C. Wise Concerning the Lord Jesus (v. 4)

2 Corinthians 11:4 NKJV

For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

To be wise concerning the Lord Jesus means to have discernment.

To have discernment in the broader sense of the Scripture means to have the ability to separate truth from error.

Many times people talk about the spiritual gift discernment. This is not the same as the broader understanding but is a gift from God that allows someone to recognize hypocrisy, shallowness, or deceit in a supernatural way.

Not everyone has the gift of discernment but every Christian can practice discernment on a spiritual level.

1 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Every believer, because they have the Holy Spirit, can understand the words of Scripture because they are given by the Spirit that indwells them. This is discernment in the broader sense.

To practice discernment means to identify whether someone is teaching God’s word in truth or in error.

This doesn’t mean to run around and correct people for every mistake. It simply means to identify intentional and ignorant false teaching and to correct it.

Acting like a jerk in Sunday School because your teacher said something that sounded off isn’t discernment. We have to recognize what someone is trying to say versus what they’re saying, that’s true discernment.

The simple Gospel is this, “Jesus died, was buried, and ressurected. All who trust in Him will be saved.” Anything more or less than that is a violation of the simple gospel that we are bound to.

Since we are bound to this simple Gospel, we must be reserved for, purified by, and wise concerning the Lord Jesus.

II.A Simple Minister

2 Corinthians 11:5–15 NKJV

For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles. Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things. Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows! But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

These “super-apostles” were claiming to be superior to Paul all for the purpose of making their gospel superior to the gospel that Paul preached.

This is why Paul compares them to the devil in v. 14.

Paul was ordained by Jesus Christ, and he was commissioned by the 12 Apostles to preach to the Gentiles. His point in these verses is this, “I preach a simple gospel as a simple minister of Christ.”

Why the emphasis on simplicity here?

The people followed these false apostles because they were flashy and smart and cunning. They were much like the devil. They came and deceived the people with smooth talk and impressive resumes.

A. Simple in Speech

In v. 6, it’s obvious that they Apostles attacked his ability to orate and preach.

1 Corinthians 2:1 NKJV

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.

1 Corinthians 2:2–5 NKJV

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

FOX TV is coming out with a new show called “THE FAITHFUL: Women of the Bible.”

When I saw the advertisement for the show here’s what the screen said:

“The biblical stories you know, told like never before.”

Something doesn’t sit right with me!

I don’t want them to be told like never before because there’s only one way to tell them!

Preaching is an art and a science.

However, preaching to impress is not impressive. And preaching to satisfy is not satisfying. But preaching to honor Christ and Christ alone in simplicity of heart is everything.

We are not called to entertain the thoughts of the world, but we are called to bring the light of the gospel to all men. This means that we are to be simple in our speech, in our love, and in our work.

“If you cannot explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” - Albert Einstein

B. Simple in Love

Of all things, they criticized his generosity that he served them without pay!

This wasn’t an attempt by Paul to offend them, but to show his love for them and for ministry.

When we minister in love, there are a few things we don’t do:

1. Not for Pay

We don’t concern ourselves with monetary things. I understand that I am your full-time pastor and I am blessed beyond measure by ya’lls generosity for me. I don’t serve based on my pay, but just out of love. Whatever the church chooses to bless me with is something that I excuse myself from.

2. Not for Recognition

I do like to recognize people, but that’s not the purpose of serving. I think we ought to give honor where honor is due, but where men fail to give honor, the Lord gives honor.

3. Not for Control

We don’t serve out of fear that someone else cannot get it done right. This isn’t service in the spirit of love, it’s service in the spirit of pride. We have to make room for others to work and freely minister with love.

4. Not for Glory

We serve to give glory to the Lord. Sometimes people only serve to get the glory and for people to recognize their strengths and to glory in them. Some have this attitude, “The church would never survive without me!” It’s been here for over 100 years and its still going!

We must be simple in our love as ministers of the Lord.

We cannot be a burden to the church, but a relief to the church. When you walk in the room, do people go, “Oh no…” when you are selected for the committee to people say, “Oh! Not again!” Or do they say, “God bless them and their love for us!”

We must be simple in speech, simple in love…

C. Simple in Work

2 Corinthians 11:15 NKJV

Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

Our work here at the church is simple and focus is narrow, we are to be working to make the Lord Jesus known in everything that we do.

In all the process and the decoration, in all the music and in the preaching, in all the serving and in the working, we should only have one question: “Does it point people to Jesus Christ?”

We have a simple work, and it is a work that is more important than anything else that we could do.

Galatians 2:20 NKJV

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

The church is more than a social club, it is a tool to win the lost.

If our work is anything less than to shine the light of Jesus Christ, then we are not workers for the Lord but workers for satan.

III. A Simple Proof

Have you ever heard the expression, “The proof is in the pudding?” - What we produce for Christ is the proof of effectiveness.

Galatians 6:7 NKJV

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

These men, these false teachers, these devils were mocking God.

They were preaching a false gospel and they were boasting, they were showing off, and they were taking instead of giving. - Paul makes note of these things and uses his life as the proof of their hypocrisy!

2 Corinthians 11:16–33 NKJV

I say again, let no one think me a fool. If otherwise, at least receive me as a fool, that I also may boast a little. What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were, foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast. For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise! For you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face. To our shame I say that we were too weak for that! But in whatever anyone is bold—I speak foolishly—I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.

How does Paul address their hypocrisy by using his life?

A. Compares their Boasting

In Graeco-Roman world, there was no hope for an after life, so they didn’t boast in their savior, they boasted about the things in their life.

In turn, they said that Paul was a fool and someone that they couldn’t believe was put up with for so long!

2 Corinthians 11:1 NKJV

Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me.

Paul was saying, “since you’re so fond of these men, I’m going to have to brag on myself which I don’t like doing, but you’ve left me no choice.”

Look there in v. 20-21 for the comparison:

He says in v. 20 that the Judaizers:

Brought them into bondage

They taught the law of legalism as salvation not Christ

Devoured them

They came as gluttons hungry for power, influence, and money, and they took all they could.

Took them in

The verb in v. 20 for “takes” is an active verb which means they actively sought out to “capture you.” They are there to seduce the church much like the bait on the hook is there to seduce a fish or the corn on the ground to seduce the birds.

Exalted themselves

Instead of pointing people to Jesus, they pointed to themselves.

Struck them in the face

They were mean and belittling. They got their power by making everyone around them feel small!

Now look in v. 21

Paul very sarcastically says, “But I was too weak to do all those things! I wasn’t strong enough to take advantage of you! All I could do was love you.”

Then look there at the end, he’s about to change the conversation. He’s moving from sarcasm to irony and he is about to list his credentials.

B. Compares their Credentials

Paraphrase, “They say that they are true Jews? So am I?”

The Bible says Romans 1:16, the gospel was delivered to the Jew first then to the Greeks. The claim of the false Apostles was that they had a true gospel, because they were Jewish, to which Paul replies, “So am I!”

Comparing Mackerels

I’m about 10 years old and my whole family is staying in a cabin over in Gulf Shores. One of the afternoons they take me out on the boat to go fishing.

We’re out in the gulf fishing in some brackish water for speckled trout and redfish which are caught in-shore, and it’s been a rough start to the afternoon!

These guys are coming back inshore from fishing in deeper water and yell out, “Ya’ll caught anything?!”

My uncle, whose fished all over the nation, said, “Not yet!”

The guy in the other boat says, “Well look at this!” And he reaches in the cooler and he pulls out a 25 pound mackerel he’d just caught. He’s holding it up and he’s bragging and he’s so proud…

I’m impressed until my uncle yells back with an air of confidence and says, “You oughta try to catch one about 50 pounds!”

That fish got a little lower and all of a sudden it looked a little smaller!

The thing is that everyone’s a pro until their compared to the real deal.

In v. 23 Paul writes, “Are they ministers of Christ? I am more!”

C. Compares their Sacrifices

In the rest of the chapter Paul compares their sacrifices, their travels, and their experiences to his.

His most audacious claim is found in v. 28.

2 Corinthians 11:28 NKJV

besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

Paul says that he will sacrifice everything for the churches!

D. The Proof

The proof of love and simplicity in the church is this: to boast in Christ and Christ alone; to be credentialed by Christ and Christ alone; and to be a living sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

There is always an attack happening at every church that preaches the name of the Lord Jesus.

The devil will stop at nothing to imitate fruit and to seduce the church to follow him instead of God.

But when it all comes down to it…

A. We must preach and believe the simple Gospel

That is, Jesus came, died, and resurrected. This means that we are reserved for Him and Him alone. We serve no other name than the name of Jesus! That we are reserved for Him, purified by Him, and wise concerning Him.

B. We must be simple ministers of the Gospel

We are simple in our speech yet we are to be bold! We are to be simple in our love yet we are to be fierce and intentional! And we are to be simple in our work and dedicated beyond all measure to give Jesus the glory, the honor, and the praise!

C. We must be able to provide a simple proof of our love for the Gospel

By our lives, by our hearts, by our conversations, and by our focus, we prove that we are laborers for Jesus Christ and are not being used by satan.

We boast in Christ, we are credentialed by Christ, and we sacrifice for Christ.